I remember my mother saying, once retired, she had no idea how she had managed to fit in a full time job.

Being in my 30s at the time, I was just a bit sceptical and had always worked on the basis of ‘if you need something doing, ask a busy person.’

But now I find myself agreeing with her – and I am sure if she was still around to hear that, she would be sporting a rather self-satisfied smile.

Over the years, I have slipped from employment, into self-employment, into less self-employment and since the pandemic, no real paid work – and never actually retiring in the sense of ‘ Ok that is it, work over, retirement here we go.’

It turns out, I have plenty to occupy my time.

And what a heady mix of ‘plenty’ that turns out to be; Oxfam, upholstery classes and a bit of hammering and banging, re-stuffing and hand-stitching on the side at home, dog-walking fixtures, lunch outings for an elderly relative, gardening, cleaning out the fridge now and then……

Not exactly running from pillar to post, I hear you say, and indeed I was feeling guilty about being so ready for a holiday and relishing the thought of waking up and not having a list of things to do, places to be, over and above when to go for the first dip in the sea, and where to eat that evening.

Meanwhile, there is something very nice about sitting with the Best Beloved on our terrace watching the yachts coming into the bay and sorting out where and how to anchor.

This was always a tense time for us on sailing holidays ( actually one of quite a lot of tense times) and remind me one day to tell you about our anchor coming loose and our boat bumping (gently) around and into all the other boats in the bay.

So there is a lazily delicious schadenfreude in watching the oh so usually competent Swedes (among others) spending an anxious hour going backwards and forwards to the prow and peering down to check their anchor is still laid.

We have two weeks of time to spend pretty much like this and I have a feeling that much though I was very, very keen to get here, there will be a bit of me itching to get back, get busy, and do the Oxfam window display.

The window theme is travel, so no irony there then.